Just after 2 p.m. on New Year’s Day 1983, in front of a crowd of approximately 5,000 people, Mayor Peter Wong stepped up to the microphone, unrolled a ceremonial scroll and declared the year of Sudbury’s Centennial to have officially begun.
Thus began a landmark year that saw no week escape unscathed, with at least one centennial-related event on the social calendar. As Centennial Committee member Fred Hackett wrote in a poem included in the black book that still piques my curiosity all these years later, it was a time where, “We salute our city, both new and fabulously old.”
Now, unlike previous columns, the memories that were elicited from the first Sudbury Centennial column were not tied to anything mentioned in that bit of writing (with one notable exception). In fact, they lead in new directions of research and by happenstance, a theme to this column.
When we think of what is involved in a birthday party, our thoughts immediately go to songs, balloons, games, gifts, decorations and cake. And, that theme is what came about from those memories that you, the readers, shared with us.
Lisa Shawongonabe Abel wrote in that she “remembers that there was a songwriting competition” for an official birthday song for Sudbury’s centennial and even found a listing for it online, which she sent to me. The 45 single came in a neat slipcover emblazoned with both the Sudbury Centennial logo and the Northern Lights Festival Boréal logo, in opposite corners, bookending the name of the single with its large broken up “SUD BURY”
In early February 1983, the Centennial Committee announced the winner of the songwriting competition, which was “Happy Birthday Sudbury” by Janet Eadie Morrison. The song, and its French translation “Bonne Fête Sudbury,” was released the following week on a 45 record with vocals by Suzanne Gratton.
The French lyrics were written by Patrice Desbiens and Robert Dickson. Also of note on this recording is the presence of local musician, educator and Lions’ Christmas Telethon mainstay, Gary Di Salle (who passed away just last year) playing guitar.
According to Lionel Courtemanche, speaking on behalf of the Centennial Foundation at the time, approximately 5,000 copies were pressed for sale at a cost of $2.50 each. The approximate cost for the production was $6,700, meaning that the profit from a sell out would only be $5,800. Unfortunately, I have neither been able to secure a copy (someone let me know if you find one) or find out if it was a sell out.
Morrison stated at the time that through the record she wanted to convey the message that even if Sudburians are different, they can live together. She wanted everyone to be proud to wish their city a happy birthday.
Later on in the year, during the weekend of June 18-19, the city played host to a hot air balloon festival that involved three different events held at Lily Creek, Bell Park and Sudbury Downs. All three of these events included a meal served to the spectators: a pancake breakfast for the morning events and a BBQ for the evening event.
The general public was also invited to follow the balloons in their vehicles until they reached their landing point.
The first event that weekend is known as a “Hare and Hound" race. The Hare balloon takes off a set amount of time before the Hound balloons and is to be “chased” along a matching flight path. After a set amount of flight time, the Hare will land and typically lay out a target cross for the Hounds to hit with a dropped marker. The distance between a marker and the target determines the pilot’s score.
The second event involved each balloon being co-piloted by one of the mayors from the region. They were expected to fly towards a target no more than several kilometers away, which would be established according to the speed and direction of the wind on that day. (I guess, the Centennial Committee did not want to be responsible for permanently losing any of the area mayors).
The target chosen for this race ended up being in the Long Lake area. Terry Closs remembers following “one of the chase vehicles in the South End and when the hot air balloon came down in the Jarvi Road area (north of Long Lake)” everyone was “surprised to see Sudbury's Mayor Peter Wong on board.”
The final event, dubbed the “Sudbury Downs Jockeys Race” was a rather interesting version of a balloon-harness racing duathlon. The balloons started a few miles from Sudbury Downs and were expected to land at 7:15 a.m. in the centre field of the racetrack wherein the jockeys would then proceed to race around the track in harness.
Jan Briggs-McGowan wrote in to share that “somewhere amongst my treasures (is) the pin from the Sudbury Women’s Centre celebrating the city’s centennial” that was given out as a gift to residents. Not only was there a pin, in both English and French versions, but also a poster created by the Sudbury Women’s Centre in honour of the Nickel City’s 100th.
However, this was no ordinary celebratory centennial creation. It was created as a counterpoint to the official centennial logo. That logo featured two miners drawn in profile contrasted with one another. One miner’s headgear — a cloth hat affixed with a candle — harkening back to the simpler (and much more dangerous) times. The second miner, representing the present (of 1983), with his plastic hard hat and modern headlamp.
In response, this second (and equally important) logo, which used the phrase “Every Miner Had a Mother,” was aimed at highlighting the significant and sometimes largely unpaid and invisible roles played by women. Though very similar in design, with two figures drawn in profile contrasted with one another, the logos parted ways in the substance of what they portrayed.
The 1883 miner was replaced with a woman dressed in 19th century finery with feathered hat, a nod to both the mothers and wives of those miners who first arrived in the Nickel Belt prior to the turn of the 20th Century.
The 1983 miner was replaced with a profile of one of his co-workers, highlighting the increasing emergence of women within the mining field in Sudbury as the 20th century had progressed.
It was, as Jan Briggs-McGowan wrote, “an effort to recognize that there were women in Sudbury in 1883, and women in mining in 1983. It wasn’t all about the men as the official records and official logo pin seemed to portray.”
As a tie-in to this logo, the Sudbury Women’s Centre held a Mother’s Day event that featured women’s contributions to Sudbury’s social history. The project, which included a large collection of photos and interviews, attracted a lot of interest. It was reported that more than 450 people attended the “Miners Mother’s Day Tea” itself.
For a few years, a cartoon “map” of Sudbury hung pinned to a wall as a decoration in the basement at my parents’ house. The map was produced for the centennial and was illustrated by David Cooper and coloured by Myrna Kanerva.
The map included drawings of many local landmarks and businesses of the day, including the Peter Piper Inn, Star Bottling Works, Cecutti’s, and Casey’s Roadhouse. These were interspersed with caricatures of residents spouting local trivia (“Sudbury was the first City in Canada to install parking metres”) or giving directions (“Visit our second location at Cedar Pointe Mall”).
Like many others, Adam Bourre wrote to share that he would “stare at (the poster) trying to see where all the streets went and where all the different places were.”
At the time, this poster was ubiquitous across the city and was a favourite distraction for many children at dentist and doctors’ appointments, a sentiment echoed by Marnie Savage in a comment made at the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page.
Finally, let’s return to New Year’s Day 1983. After the speeches, the expressions of hope and positivity for Sudbury’s future were out of the way, there came the most important part of any birthday. Now what would a 100th birthday bash for the centennial festivities be without an excessively large cake to share?
And, what a cake it was, bordered with 100 pillar candles all lit (hoping the fire department was on hand) and weighing in at nearly a ton, according to reporting in The Sudbury Star from that day.
Former Mayor Grace Hartman (the first woman to hold this office) was enlisted to do the honours of cutting the cake. Of course, for a cake of this magnitude, there required a means of cutting it that was of similar stature. So, instead of a simple cake knife, she borrowed the ceremonial sword from Sgt. Greg Brown of the 29th Royal Canadian Army Cadets and sliced into the cake with a smile of graceful elegance.
Well, dear readers, Sudbury’s sesquicentennial (a fancy word for 150th anniversary) is just a short 10 years away. Can we match the grandeur of all that was accomplished 40 years ago for our centennial? And more importantly (from my perspective anyways) will we make it noteworthy enough for someone to write about 40 years later? I hope to see you all then with your party hats on.
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
